Machendra Chongbang, 28, is seeking unspecified damages in Manhattan Supreme Court for his injuries, which include possible brain damage from a severe concussion, abdominal and knee injuries.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Chongbang says MAH Realty which owned the structure housing the restaurant caused and created "a dangerous and defective condition" and failed to warn people in the building of the hazard.
“It's difficult to understand why the vacate order was lifted weeks ahead of the anticipated timeline. The air inside is thick; without a face mask, nausea and headaches set in within half an hour — that's the longest I've been able to stand it,” said resident James Styron, who had lived in the building for just three weeks before the fire.
“We are expected to pay rent for mid-April onward, but the conditions are (inhabitable), regardless of what city officials say. I'd invite any of them to spend the night in one of the south-side apartments, where the worst damage occurred. It might change their perspective,” he said.
“If HPD cleared it, then they’re alright,” he said, adding that only two of the apartments actually had the fire inside them, and four have long-term vacate orders on them.
Has anyone profiled the pirate who lives adjacent to the East Village building that blew up? https://t.co/wFNRoZvlzQ pic.twitter.com/SJIxR2Ivup
— Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) April 25, 2015
The DOT has been unwilling to talk to, or meet with Singh, according to their lawyer/advocate Ali Najmi. Instead, the city agency is forcing the operators to wait until after Community Board 3 considers the matter next month. This directive isn’t sitting well, though, since there’s apparently been some behind-the-scenes meddling with the application itself. Punjabi accuses the DOT of “rearranging” their CB3 proposal – without consultation – to include a different taxi stand around the corner on Avenue A (4 spots).
“It’s way far down and not what we requested,” Singh says. “[Changing the agenda item] is completely unethical and unprofessional considering DOT hasn’t given us even five minutes of their time.”
Police officials cited the brutality of the roughly five-minute melee that preceded the shooting on Saturday. Mr. David ripped a police radio from one of the detectives and used it to bash their heads, one official said.
“It’s like hitting somebody with a brick,” said Joseph L. Giacalone, a former detective sergeant who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Both detectives were bruised and cut in the face, the police said.
An itinerant man with few recent family ties, Mr. David, 24, had a history of mental illness and frequent run-ins with the law, police officials said.
As a teenager, in 2007, he was helped by officers in Midtown Manhattan, who classified him as a runaway. The next year, Bronx officers encountered him in a state of emotional distress and took him to a hospital. He was on medication at the time, one official said.
There were arrests for assault and grand larceny across the city and in Kearny, N.J. From 2009 to 2012, he had spent months, on and off, as a prisoner at Rikers Island. More recently, he lived at two different treatment centers for young people with mental illness.
The woman reported the incident to police, and the detectives attempted to arrest Mr. Felix just before 2 p.m. Saturday on East Sixth Street, officials said. The two detectives approached Mr. Felix in a sixth-floor apartment but he fled using the fire escape, officials said.
